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Abstract Apoptosis is a physiological process of autocellular destruction, which plays a critical roles in development, maintenance of homeostasis, and lost defense in multi-cellular organism. Dysregulation of this process is implicated in various diseases ranging from cancer and autoimmune disorders to neurodegenerative diseases and ischemic injuries (Thompson, 1995).Atherosclerosis, a relatively benign chronic disease, is transformed into severe acute illness because of coronary thrombosis, manifested clinically as an acute coronary syndrome (ACS).Caspases are a group of cysteine proteases critical for apoptosis of eukaryotic cells. Deletion of genes that encode murine caspases suggests that caspases are involved not only in apoptosis but also in cytokine maturation.The aim of this work is to evaluate the relationship between interleukin -IB converting enzyme / caspase-l(as an indicator of apoptosis and a processing enzyme of proinflammatory cytokines) with the degree of coronary artery occlusion, and the effect of percutaneous transluininal coronary angioplasty(PTCA) on caspase-1 in patients with coronary artery disease. |